Glass-annealing leer



E. E. MILNER AND W. J. LYTLE.

, GLASS ANNQEALING LEER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-I, 19l9. I 1,361,6Q4 Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

8 SHEETSSHEET l- WITNESS E. E. MlLNER AND W. J. LYTLE.

GLASS ANNEALING LEER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-h 1919.

1,361,604, Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

WH'HE SS Patented D06. 7, 1920.

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E. E. MILNER AND W. J. LYTLE.

GLASS ANNEALING LEER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-1'. 1919.

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GLASS ANNEALING LEERI.

APPLICATION FILED AUG- l. 19.1.9.

1,361,604. Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

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0 B3 1 I v Q m m a 1 :1 m V WITNESS I I l I I I I JNVENTOFS E. E. M|LNER AND W. L'LYTLE.

- GLASS ANNEALING LEER.

' APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1. 1919. 1,361,604, Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 6- E. E. MILNER AND W.- J. LYTLE.

GLASS ANNEALINGv LEER.

- APPLICATION FILED AUG.I, 1919. 1,361,604. v Patented Dec. 7,1920.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 7- WITNESS INVENTOIS E- E. MILNER AND W. J. LYTLE.

cuss ANNEALING LEER.

v APPLICATION FILED AUG-1 v Patnted Dec, 7,1920.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 8'- 62% ZZZ s R O T N I- V N wrr'mais UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN E. MILNER, OF SCOTT TOWNSHIP, ALLEGHENY COUNTYANI) WILLIAM J. LYTLE, OF ROSSLYN FARMS BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO H. L. DIXON COMPANY, OF CARNEGIE, IENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- SYLVANIA.

G LASS- ANNEALING LEER.

Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

Application filed August 1, 1919. Serial No. 314,615.

To all ulm'm. it may concern.

lie it known that we, EDWIN E. MILNER, residing at bcot't township, and WILLIAM J LY'ILE, residing at Rosslyn Farms borough, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, have 1nvented a new and useful Improvement in Glass-Annealing Leers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specificatlon, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of one form of annealing leer embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of one end portion of the leer;

Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 8 and 9 are sections taken, respectively, on the lines IVIV, VV, VI-VI, VII-VII, VIIVIII and IX- IX of Fig. 3;

Figs. 10, 11, and 12 and 13 are perspective views of different forms of tiles used in the leer construction;

Fig. 14 is a plan view of another form of tile; and

Figs. 15 and 16 are sectional views taken on the lines XVXV and XVIXVI, respectively, of Fig. 14.

Our invention has relation to annealing leers or furnaces of the type which is especially adapted for the annealing of glassware, and which is further of the muflie type in which the products of combustion or flame do not come into direct conta-"t with the ware, the ware being annealed by the action of heat which passes through the flue walls.

One object of our invention is to provide a leer of this character with an improved flue arrangement for distributing and circulating the heating medium around the annealing chamber, whereby a substantially uniform annealing heat may be obtained within said chamber at any given cross section thereof, while the heat at different portions of said chamber may be regulated and controlled effectively as may be desired.

A further objet of our invention is to provide a novel construction of the cir 'ulating flues, whereby repairs may be readily made to any flue.

Further objects and advantages of our in- -vention' will hereinafter appear.

annealed glassware is properly cooled down before removal. 4 (Fig. 1) designates any usual type-of conveyer by which the articles may be moved through the leer and tunnel. 5 is a baflle which is placed intermediate the upper and lower runs of theconveyer in the leer chamber and throughout the tunnel.

The eneral framework of the leer is constructed in any usual or suitable manner, be ing generally made of brickwork 6, reinforced by metallic frame members 7 7 Where producer gas is to be used as fuel, this gas is brought in through tunnel 8 (see Fig. 3) which has a plurality of openings 9, leading upwardly into a series of longitudinal flues 10, forming the base of the furnace. Each of these openings is controlled by a suitable damper valve 11 whereby the admission of gas into each of the flues 10 may be properly controlled. Each of the flues 10 is also provided (see Fig. 7) with a clean-out door 12, for permitting cleaning or burning out the flues. Each of the longitudinal flues 10 has a vertical flue 13, leading upwardly therefrom, the flues 10 being so shaped as to bring these flues 13 at the side walls, there being two such flues at ea- -h side of the leer, as is clearly shown in Fig. 7. These flues 13 constitute the main heating flues for the receiving end of the leer. Each of them extends upwardlyand around the leer chamber, one of these flues being best shown in Fig. 8. These flues are so arranged that the two of them at one side alternate with the two at the opposite side, with the result that the products of combustion in these flues flow around the leer chamber in opposite directions. In this manner, this portion of the chamber has a substantially uniform heat, since at each side there are two flues carrying the hotter gases. while the other two flues at each side carry the gases after they are cooled down somewhat.

Preheated air is supplied to the flues 13 from the longitudinal flues 14, which are formed immediately above-theQffiues 10. There are four of these flues 14, each of which has an opening 15, communicating with one of the flues 13, as best'shown in Figs. 6 and 8. Each of the flues 14 has an independent air inlet 16, controlled by a Sllltable dam er 17, whereby the admission of air to each the flues can'be independently coni trolled. Inasmuch as the ent1re base of the furnace becomes heated by the products of Combustion flowing through the different circulating flues, as will hereinafter more fully appear, the air in these flues 14 will be preheated to a considerable entent before uniting with the gas at the po nts of 'com-' bustion.

If the furnace is to be operated by natural gas, this may be introduced into the fiues13 by any suitable means, such as the doors 18,

one of which is shown in Fig. 8. Of course,

' the leer may be initially constructed for use with natural gas, in which case the lower flues 10 will not be required.

The return from each flue 13 is into a chamber 19. There are two of these chambers 10 7 cated immediately above the flues 14, each chamber receiving the return circulation from the two flues 13, which return at' that side. The arrangement of these chambers or flues 19 will be best understood by reference to Figs. 5 and 8. Each of these chambers '19 has a plurality of lateral v-ertical flues 20, leading upwardly therefrom and around the leer chamber back'of the flues 13.

The arrangement of these flues will clearly appear from Figs. 3, 4 and 9. The hot gases in the chambers 19 will therefore flow upwardly through the flues 20, into flues from opposite sides, meeting over the central top portion of the leer chamber, where they discharge into an ofltake flue .21, leading to the stack flue 22. As will be seen from Figs. 1 and 3, there is a'separateofltake flue 21 for eachof the flues 20. Each of these ofitake flues is provided with its owncontrolling damper 23 (see Fig. 9). .In this manner,

the circulation through the individual flues 20 can be separately controlled and the temperature within this portion of the leer chamber accurately regulated and controlled. The.

stack flue 22 is common to all the ofi'take It will be observed that the inner walls of the flues 13 and 20 form a practically continuous heating surface for the leer chamber. It is frequently of importance to be able to repair or rebuild a portion of one of these flues without dismantling the leer. In order to enable this to be readily accomplished, we prefer to construct these flues 13 and 20 in the following manner: The outer wall of each of these flues is composed of a series of slabs, blocks or tiles 24, one of which is shown in detail in Fig. 11, while the inner wall of each of these flues consists of a series of tiles or slabs such as shown at 25 in Figs.

14', 15 and 16. The end walls are composed Y of tiles or slabs shown at 26 (see Fig. 12).

These tiles or slabs preferably have beveled I tiles are of I-beam form in cross section. At

- the sides of the leer, these simply extend through the outer brick walls, and the flanges at their inner ends engage the flanges ofthe inner wall-forming tiles in the manner clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The end forming tiles 26 abut the web portions of the ortion of key-blocks. At theroof or arch the leer, the keyblocksare provlded with vertical recesses 28, at their ends, through which'extend hanger bolts 29, these bolts being secured in the adjacent frame channel members 7. In this manner, the arch portions of the flues are suspended from the roof and are securely held in place. At the same time, in case of necessity, any particu-. lar title of any particular flue can be readily reached for repairs or replacement, without dismantling the entire leer.

We also preferably form the floor walls of the several flues in the base of the furnace shown in detail in Fig. 10. These have interfitted rabbeted edges, and are supported therein on the partition walls of the flues or on columns 31 in said flues.

32 designates poke holes in the flues 13 and 20, in which a .suitable poker may be introduced for the purpose of poking out the flues when necessary.

The temperature in the tunnel portion 3 of the leer may be regulated to a considerable extent by,progressively decreasing the thickness of the covering or insulation 3. Thus, as shown in Fig. 1, this insulation is thickest adjacent to the rear end of the leer chamber proper and progressively decreases in thickness.

.The arrangement shown in the drawings is illustrative only and may be varied according to the temperatures which it is de-' sired to maintain in differentportions of the tunnel."

The advantages of our invention will be readily understood by those familiar with glass-annealing leers. It provides a leer in which the products of combustion are kept entirely out of contact with the. glassware being annealed; in which practically uniof slab or tile members 30 one of which is form quiescefit heat conditions can be maintained in any given cross section of the leer proper, owing to the manner in which the heating medium is distributed and controlled in the individual fines, andwhich provides a construction which can be readily built and which greatly facilitates repairs with a minimum loss of time.

We claim:

1. An annealing furnace comprising a plurality of groupsof chamber heating fines surrounding the major portion of the annealing chamber in which the articles are to be annealed, one group of said chamber heating fines having means for circulating a heating medium therethrongh in opposite directions in adjacent fines, and another group of said chamber heating fines having means for circulating a heating medium upwardly in the same direction in adjacent fines at opposite sides of the annealing chamber, substantially as described.

2. An annealing furnace comprising a plurality of groups of chamber heating fines surrounding the major portion of the annealing chamber in which the articles are to be annealed, one group of said chamber heating fines having means for circulating a heating medium through adjacent fines in opposite directions, fines or chambers into which the return sides of the first named fines discharge, and another group of said chamber heating fines leading upwardly at the side of and above the rear portion of said annealing chamber and arranged to pass the heating medium discharged by the first named fines, substantially as described.

3. An annealing furnace comprising a plurality of groups of chamber heating fines surrounding the major portion of the annealing furnace in which the articles are to be annealed, one group of said chamber heating fines having means for circulating a heating medium through adjacent of said fines in opposite directions, fines or chambers into which the return sides of the first named fines discharge, and another of said groups of chamber heating fines leading upwardly at the side of and above the rear portion of said chamber and arranged to pass the heating medium discharged by the first named fines. the last named fines having individual ofi'takes, each of which is provided with controlling means whereby the drafts in each fine may be separably controlled, substantially as described.

4. An annealing furnace having a group of chamber heating fines extending upwardly at the sides of and over the receiving portion of the annealing chamber, means for delivering air and fuel independently into each of said fines, fines or chambers located at the base of the furnace and into which said fines discharge at their return ends, and

another group of chamber heating fines exfirst named group of fines, substantially as described.

5. An annealing furnace having a group of chamber heating fines extending upwardly at the sides of and over the receiving portion of the annealing chamber, means for delivering air and fuel independently into each of said fines, fines or chambers located in the base of the furnace and into which the fines of said group discharge at their return ends, and another group of chamber heating fines extending upwardly at the sides and over the top of the rear portion of the annealing chamber and arranged to pass the products of combustion delivered to the fines or chambers in the base of the furnace by the first group of fines, together with means for independently controlling the fines of the last named group, substantially as described. A

6. An annealing furnace comprising a series of fines extending upwardly and over the receiving portion of the annealing chamber, means for passing the products of combnstion through adjacent fines in differentd1rections, a separate air-preheating means for each of said first named fines, chambers lnto which said fines discharge at their return ends, a plurality of other fines extending upwardly from said chambers at opposite sides of the furnace, each pair of said other fines connecting at the top of the furnace with an ofi'take, and means for separately controlling each of the ofi'takes, substantially as described;

7. An annealing furnace, comprising a series of circulating fines surrounding the sides and upper portion of the annealing chamber, some of said fines having means for passing a heating medium through adjacent fiues in opposite directions, a separate gas inlet chamber for each of the said circulating fines, a separate air-preheating flue for each of said circulating fines, a chamber into which each set of circulating fines discharges at its return end, and a plurality of other circulating fines extending upwardly from the last named chamber at the sides of and over the rear portion of the annealing chamber, together with means for independently controlling the last named fines, substantially as described.

8. An annealing furnace having a plurality of gas inlet fines in its base, a plurality of air-preheating fines above the gas inlet fines, a plurality of chambers above the air-preheating fines and between said fines and the bottom of the annealing chamber of the furnace, vertical fines leading upwardly from the gas inlet fines at the sides of and across the top of receiving portion ofthe annealing c amber, each 0 said vertlcal fiues communicating with one of the airannealing chamber, and separate ofi'take flues communicating with each pair of the last named fiues, substantiall as described.

9. An annealing furnace aving a plurality of gas inlet flues in its base, a plurality of air-preheating flues above the gas inlet fiues, a plurality .of chambers above the air-preheating flues and between said flues and the bottom of the annealing chamber of the furnace, vertical flues leading upwardly from the gas inlet lines at the sides of and across the to of the receiving portion'of the annealing c amber, each of said vertical flues communicating with one of the airpreheating flues and each of said flues discharging at its return end into one of said chambers, a plurality of other vertical flue's leading'upwardly from saidchambers at op posite sides of the rear portion of the annealing chamber, and separate offtake flues communicating-.with each pair of the last named flues, together with separate control-.

ling means for each of said fiues, substantia 1y as described.

.10. An annealing furnace having a pluralof flues extending upwardly atthe'sides it .0! and across the top of its annealing cham.

ber, said flues having inner, outer and end walls formed of separate interfitting slab-or tile members, and key means supported by the walls of the furnace and securing said flue-forming tiles or slabs, substantially as described. a

11. An annealing furnace of the character described, having a heat-circulating flue nel portion provided with a heat-insulating lagging or covering extending around its upper and side portions, said lagging or coverin being of progressively decreasing thic ness toward the rear end of the tunnel portion, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

EDWIN E. MILNER. WILLIAM J. LYTLE 

